


Lowbloods

by Lucky_Guardian



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Attempted Murder, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Knives, Lowblooded Trolls (Homestuck), Lusus (Homestuck), Midblooded Trolls (Homestuck), Murder, One Shot, Original Character(s), Psychic Abilities, Swearing, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Trolls, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 13:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21302744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucky_Guardian/pseuds/Lucky_Guardian
Summary: Casrai is a golden blooded troll who would much rather stay on the safe side of things in life. But when his burgundy blooded friend Mavena goes off searching for a fellow missing lowblood friend, he can't help but follow into more danger than he would ever like. He's going to have to realize that to make it out alive, they're going to have to work together and come to a much better understanding of each other than in the past.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Lowbloods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tikki303](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikki303/gifts).

> Hello there and thanks for clicking on this work!  
Just wanted to say before this begins: Mavena is my trollsona, and Casrai is the trollsona of @Tikki303 and therefore does not belong to me. All other trolls in this were made up by me for this story.  
With that out of the way, hope you enjoy! As you probably saw in the tags, this gets dark and is definitely a bit different from what I usually write, so you've been warned.

"Mavena, what are you doing?"

Casrai watched as his friend jumped slightly at his question, swiftly turning to face him. Mavena had been caught in the middle of sketching out some knives to store in her deck; who knew how many she had been collecting before he had interrupted her.

"What are you doing in my hive?" Mavena questioned instead, stashing away the last two knives that had been on the counter in her large hoodie pocket instead.

"Cappu let me in," Casrai told her, "so, what are you up to?"

Mavena exhaled, muttering something under her breath about her lusus needing to give her more privacy in her own home. Adjusting her red bandana that was tied around her neck, she pulled it over her nose and mouth, something that Casrai couldn't recall seeing her do before. He could sense a grave seriousness coming from her as well, which was again something he didn't sense from her often.

"Wenvre is missing, I'm going to look for them," she finally answered, "you can stay here if you want, I probably won't be long."

Wenvre was a burgundy blooded troll like Mavena, but Casrai didn't know them that well. To him, they were just a friend of a friend, and he could remember speaking to them only a couple times.

Plus, lowbloods went missing often, this was nothing new. It was always unfortunate, and Casrai doubted he could ever really get used to it, but… Suddenly hearing that Mavena was trying to do something about this was a shock, and what shocked him more was the fact that it was sounding like she may have done something like this before.

"A-Are you serious?" Casrai blurted out, "do you even know where they are?"

"I have a pretty good idea," Mavena stated courtly, beginning to walk over to the door.

"Would they even be alive at this point?" he continued, following her as she passed by him.

"I have to at least check," she insisted, pausing as she arrived at the doorway. "You should either stay here or go home, Cas."

"I'm going to go with you!" Casrai offered without thinking, "y-you shouldn't go do this alone," he added.

Mavena took a moment to consider this, and Casrai silently waited in anticipation for her to decide. He could tell that she was reluctant, but of course she had to mull over the option anyway.

"...you could get hurt," Mavena murmured, her tail swishing behind her anxiously.

"So could you!" Casrai pointed out, "I can help sense if we're, uh, being followed!"

Another pause. Mavena's ears twitched irritably, and then with a sigh, she pushed open the door. As she walked out, she pulled her hood over her head as well, shrouding most of her face.

"If you're sure, then come along. Just stay quiet."

Casrai silently followed Mavena through the streets. They stuck close to the shadows, hiding away from anyone who could spot them. Every once and awhile he would whisper to his friend if he could sense someone nearby, usually another lowblood like the both of them, but otherwise the walk was met with no troubles.

He wondered if he should have brought any weapons with him as well, knowing that his strife deck had been left at his own hive, but he decided not to bring it up and hope that it wouldn't come to that anyway.

Eventually, they stopped in front of one of the larger hives that Casrai had seen. Dread filled the pit of his stomach, only increasing as he realized that this was the place that Mavena had been looking for.

"Mavena, this hive belongs to a teal blood," Casrai hissed nervously in a hushed tone.

"Yup," Mavena confirmed calmly, stepping carefully towards the door. "Hm… no cameras, that's good for us," she muttered to herself.

"Mavena! We can't go in here!" Casrai snapped, reaching to grab the other troll's arm, only for her to pull away and approach the building more.

"You can always go back if you want," Mavena told him, turning to face him for a moment to flash a sharp grin, but Casrai noted that she didn't carry the usually confident energy from the expression.

"We should both go back; we could die in here," Casrai insisted firmly, though his hands shook at his sides.

This time Mavena didn't respond, and Casrai burned with frustration as he realized that Mavena not only wasn't going to turn back, but she expected him not to either; and she was right.

Now with both of them right up at the entrance to the house, Casrai almost hoped that there would be no way to get instead, but with a wave of her hand, Mavena used her telekinesis powers to open the door wide for them. With a reluctant sigh, Casrai continued following Mavena inside.

"Let me know if you sense them," Mavena instructed, her already a whisper being muffled by her bandana.

Casrai nodded, but didn't say anything. He was much too scared to; fear making his throat feel swelled up. Perhaps if he had been invited here by a friend, he would have taken the time to properly admire the large bookshelves in some rooms, and the various decorations in others, but now he just wanted to close his eyes and hide away. Regardless, he kept following his friend, even if he was finding fewer reasons to do so.

Finally, after exploring the large hive for quite a bit without any signs of the missing troll, they headed down some stairs into the basement. Turning on a light lit the dark room in a wretched scene. The room was painted with splatters of red, and if there had been any doubt that it was blood just by how it looked, the smell gave it away. Hidden under the layers of dried burgundy blood were traces of bronze, and even gold here and there, but the other two colors were just a fraction compared to how the room was bathed in red.

Some of the blood was fresh; Wenvre was long dead.

Bile rose in the back of Casrai's throat, but he managed to keep himself from vomiting just at the reveal of the room. He barely noticed as Mavena slowly stepped into the room, though in the back of his mind he could sense her horror at the sight.

In fact, he was so caught up in his own shock and nausea that he didn't realize that someone else was down here with them until someone grabbed his horn and pulled him close, dragging him down in a headlock. Casrai let out a scream, but was cut off by a hand over his mouth. Instinctively, he bit down on it, tasting blood that almost made him want to vomit. While he couldn't see his captor, he knew that this had to be the teal blooded troll that lived here and had killed the other lowbloods that now had their blood decorating the walls here.

What he could see though, was Mavena spinning back around, already having pulled out one of her knives from her pocket. While thankful for her evidently aiming to help out him, more nerves bubbled up inside knowing that neither of them stood much of a chance against this midblood.

"Oh, just my luck!" the teal blooded troll cooed, "I didn't even need to collect my next treats, they can right down here on their own!"

"Let him go," Mavena growled.

Laughing, the grip tightened on Casrai, prompting a whimper out of him, "that's cute; you're playing hero?" they taunted, "what are yo-"  
Casrai barely had time to react when suddenly the grip lessened again as the higher troll stopped speaking mid-sentence, and blood dripped down on his shoulder. He glanced up, seeing a knife jabbed deep into the shoulder of his captor, evidently being thrown in by Mavena with great precision.

Taking this opportunity, Casrai began kicking and struggling against their grasp, doing his best to try freeing himself. At first he wasn't sure if he would succeed, but then he felt the tug of Mavena's telekinesis, finally pulling him away. He stumbled a few feet forward before crumpling to the floor, shaking from head to toe. While every fiber of his being just wanted to run away or just curl up here and hope for the best, he forced himself back on shaky legs to face the hive owner, who had pulled the weapon out of their shoulder and let it clatter on the ground.

"That's cute," they repeated, grinning from ear to ear. "Your little toys won't kill me; I'm not a weak little rusty like you. The effort is amusing though!"

Mavena didn't say anything in response, instead reaching into her pocket and pulling out the second knife, holding it in front of her. Then, her eyes lit up in a glow, pulling the pencil and the deck of cards that she always kept in her pocket out as well, carrying them beside her with telekinesis. Keeping her eyes trained on their foe, the pencil began sketching over the cards one by one, summoning each of the knives that were stored in the deck. It dawned on Casrai just how prepared his friend was for this, as now she had at least half a dozen knives floating around her, and there were still more cards to bring knives out of.

However, despite her readiness, the teal blooded troll wasn't about to slow their advance towards the pair. Realizing that she was running out of time, Mavena shot the knives she already had out at her opponent, all landing their mark and stabbing into their arms, legs, and torso.

Regardless, this only seemed to slow them down slightly. Backing up anxiously, Mavena dropped the cards and pencil, focusing her energy on a table instead, moving it in front of the continuously advancing troll. The furniture broke as they stumbled over it, some of the knives digging deeper inside of them, but they pulled themself to their feet again.

It did seem to buy Mavena a bit more time though, and she began working on summoning more weapons to throw at them. Once she had another half a dozen knives, she sent them over again, again all stabbing into various parts of the higher troll's body, blood trickling out of all the wounds.

Still, but still, they pushed forward. Definitely slowed, but their hardiness proved true as they finally cornered the burgundy blooded troll. They choked out another laugh, spitting out more teal blood as they did so. Mavena shakily lifted both of her hands, putting all her might into using her telekinesis to keep this other troll away from her. It was a battle between the mental force of the burgundy blood and the physical force of the teal blood.  
Casrai's heart pounded, his mind racing for some way he could help defend his friend. His eyes landed on a chair, and without thinking, he grabbed it in his shaky hands and turned back to face the danger.

Letting out a hoarse yell, he raced over and bashed the chair over the foe's head. They stumbled forward, dazed, before finally slumping onto the floor; which only pushed the knives deeper into them. Their chest moved with ragged breathing and they clawed in a desperate attempt to get back up, but eventually the only movement from around them was the teal blood that continued pooling out from around their body.

Mavena leaned back against the wall, shaking. She pulled the bandana away from her face, gagging but not quite throwing up. Casrai was less fortunate at holding it back this time however, and suddenly found the burning liquid bursting out from his mouth as he vomited out his breakfast at his feet.

"O-Oh my… did… are they dead?" Casrai gasped once he found himself able to speak. "Did we kill them? Oh shit, we killed them, we're going to die, we killed a midblood and now they're going to punish us and-"

"We aren't going to die," Mavena assured him, her own voice quiet. "No one knows that this happened except us."

"F-Fuck…" Casrai covered his mouth, unable to stop the tears from pouring out of his eyes.

Slowly, he sat himself down, his legs shaking far too much to keep himself standing. Death was commonplace among lowbloods, but he had never killed anyone, even in self defense; and judging by how Mavena's face had paled as well, neither had she.

She leaned back against the wall, slumping down in a crouch and burying her face in her hands, focusing on her breathing for a few minutes before finally looking up. Weakly, she raised a hand and rolled the body using her mind, and one by one, used her telekinesis to pull out all the knives.

Part of Casrai wanted to scream at her, he wanted to blame her for bringing them here and getting them stuck in this situation. But then he sensed her own fear, her own guilt, and her own disgust at herself; and he realized that despite the brave face she was putting on, she was terrified of all this as well, she just didn't want to scare Casrai anymore.

"T-Thank you, for… for saving me," he told her.

Mavena let out a feeble hum of acknowledgement, and Casrai just barely noted how pale she still was and how her hand still shook as she moved it along to her telekinesis.

They stayed silent for a long time, as Mavena proceeded to have to store all the bloodied weapons back in her deck. Nerves made Casrai want to request her to hurry up, but he knew that her deck required precision, especially with so many similar items to store away. He focused instead on trying to sense if anyone was coming in; keeping an eye out in case they could get caught doing this.

"They don't have a lusus," he mumbled aloud as he realized the fact for himself.

"Good."

"Good?"

"No possible witness. But more importantly, if the lusus died before now, then this troll would have been culled soon anyway."

Casrai blinked, not willing to admit how that fact relaxed him. This troll who lived here was doomed anyway. They had just maybe saved another lowblood from being killed too before that happened.

Eventually, they cleaned up all their evidence of being here, and hurriedly made their way out of the hive before any drones could show up. Casrai offered to have them go to his hive since it was closer, but Mavena insisted on checking up on Cappu. When they made their way back, she collapsed beside the large lusus, burying her face in his fur. Casrai lingered around to make sure she would be alright, before staggering off to his own home.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lowbloods (Casrai POV)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21379702) by [Tikki303](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikki303/pseuds/Tikki303)


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